Hahahaha,
Those flies! Isn't fun when they get started chasing one? Nothing more important than catching the invader.

How about those silly puppy fits, where they just seem to lose their minds and run circles, then stopping only to take off tearing through the house and using the walls as banked turns for the next stretch.

*##$%&^%() where is that damn teather?
Randy

Thankfully the NASCAR puppy spurts seem to take place mostly outside.

Probably one of the only perks to being a smoker, is that the pup gets to go outside with me every 1 1/2 hours or so, while I nurse my tumor.

She takes the opportunity to run about like a spastic-crazy-dog.
Reminds me of the Road Runner.

 Quote: randy allen

How about those silly puppy fits, where they just seem to lose their minds and run circles, then stopping only to take off tearing through the house and using the walls as banked turns for the next stretch.

Good description! My dog will still do this on occasion...tucks his butt and zooms around like an idiot. It's such a perfect expression of joy I don't have the heart to stop him (but I do get well out of the way).

David, it's my opinion after reading everything Will wrote to you, that it's best you take his advice seriously. I'm a GSD person, since I was 6 or 7, but not all GSDs are created equal. As a child, I owned 2 of them and I was their sole caretaker and trainer. They were that kind of GSD. The other GSDs throughout my adult years were also the same way. But all were aloof, both with children and adults outside the family. The GSD I have now, I would not trust with children. That's just the truth of it. He's aloof with all adults and children but he's always "ready", no matter the age of the person, something my other GSDs weren't. I keep him away from my grandchildren.

To get a GSD like the ones I used to have is what you want, BUT you need to know how to judge that beforehand.

I'm of the opinion that it takes a lot more dog to be a PPD than to be a Schutzhund or ring sport dog. I believe a PPD can do the sports but a SCH dog cannot always do PPD work.

The dog I have now I got for PPD. He's a hell of a lot more dog than I thought he would be and if it weren't for the fact that I'm not a quitter and that I take my commitments seriously (and that I love him), he might have gone elsewhere by now.

There's no doubt he would attack and stay in the fight if he needs to protect me, but he's not the kind of dog I want around young kids.

So....I'd take Will at his word about serious PPDs and look elsewhere. A GSD is large enough to ward people off, just because of many people's fear of them, and an intruder/attacker doesn't know whether a dog is a trained PPD or not. I doubt they think in those terms and a barking dog is usually enough to call attention to them which they don't want.

So a GSD can definitely fit the bill, I just don't think a prospective PPD is what you should get. All my opinion of course, but it's my experience with just one PPD that these are damn serious dogs and not to be taken lightly (or mushed all over by kids).

I'm with Alyssa, for one a German Shepherd is widely recognized as a protection breed, it doesn't even have to have any protection training for what it sounds like David needs, essentially a family companion/guardian, any well bred German Shepherd should perform that duty more than admirably, plus German Shepherds have the brains to ad lib a situation as well, case in point, I have 4 German Shepherds as I am a single woman and live alone on a small mini ranch with horses, the dogs provide me all the protection I need as well as more than enough respect from visitors who make deliverys and such, put it this way, no one would make notes to come back and rob me, yet these dogs are as friendly as can be when I allow people to enter, the front gates get locked and it's another story, they will warn me of any car arriving. I have a 2 year old female that is especially devoted to me, she literally lays outside each stall I clean as she knows she is not allowed in the stalls with the horses, so she guards the entryway to the stall so she can watch me as I clean, I was cleaning the stall of a VERY aggressive gelding and accidentally tripped over my shoestrings and fell on the floor, the gelding whirled, snorted and charged me with his ears flat back and his teeth bared, that Shepherd was on him in a flash and literally took the brunt of his attack, she fought back and even tore his muzzle causing a veterinary appointment for stitches, but I was absolutely humbled by her courage and protection, and that was with absolutely no protection training, just old fashioned love.

Thanks for all of the advice. Just a few things . . .

*While I think Goldens are nice dogs, I do not think they are for me. They just seem too passive. Sweet dogs, but my personal preference is for a dog that just have total confidence. The ones I have met typically seemed to be ultra-submissive. Something about that just seems kind of offsetting. That is probably part of why I like the bully breeds, or any breed that can be confident without seemingly trying to prove anything.

*The natural, stay-at-home protectors (Kuvasz, Tibetan Mastiff, Rhodesian Ridgeback) . . . Those are possibilities, but I have only met one of those breeds (a male Tibetan, I liked him), and know of exactly zero breeders of any of those, much less one I would trust for such rare breeds.

*GSD as Pet/Deterrent . . . This is a viable option. If I am getting a non-PP dog, I really just want a companion that will alert me to the presence of a possible criminal. I do not want to rely on a dog's intuition or some storybook-come-to-life where the dog instinctively knows just what to do and does it. If that happens, then great, but I am not going to plan on that happening no matter how smart the dog. Knowing my luck . . .

-Cheers

David,
I'm adding a Moderator note here which I add to various threads when I see that bad or dangerous advice is being given.


"The advice and opinions given on this forum range from excellent to poor. The range of expertise of posters on this forum ranges from acknowledged experts in dog training to pet owners with no experience.
That being said, it falls upon the original poster to determine what advice is worth using - "caveat emptor", "let the buyer beware".


Will Rambeau
Moderator

 Quote: Lorie Armendariz

... a German Shepherd...... doesn't even have to have any protection training.... any well bred German Shepherd should perform that duty more than admirably, plus German Shepherds have the brains to ad lib a situation....

This is not something I would post (or agree with) about any breed.


JMO.

GSD's are my breed of choice. I'll always have one with me until I can't care for one any longer.
Given the parameters you've given though, almost any GSD under three or four ages old is out of the question. Even considering the retriever breeds, which I kept for many years, there was only one or two I would have had complete trust in around children, and I've never had a GSD that would take any crap from me much less a child. Either as young dog or as an adult. You've gotten rid of, by your estimation, a beloved dog because it made a snap at your child. How you're going to deal with a dog that doesn't snap, but bites? And I mean bites for real. Welcome to the world of the rank driven, this is mine, and I'll fight you over it world of the young GSD you'll be looking at for your ppd propect. Take a good look at Sandy's very handsome 'young dog', what kind of damage you think one of his 'snaps' would do (probably protecting himself I might add)?
Mike and Will's lean towards a already trained dog is your best bet for what you're looking for, but until the child is old enough to be trusted around the dog.....beware, the child and therefore the dog is in danger. No matter the breed.
The breeds I suggested for your situation are world renown for their herd guardian instincts, and in the case of one of those three, I know one person who's opined it'd be interesting to try them in the ring sports. If I was myself interested in one of them I'm not real sure it would take much more than the reach it'd take to find a fine GSD; that is, when one comes right down to it.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

There's a reason why I just finally got a dog.

Between multiple deployments, and waiting for my son to get older, it wasn't the right time.

I had to wait until my son was almost Kindergarten age to get a dog. Prior to now, he and the dog would have needed constant separation.

Now, at four and a half years old, they can play and be around each other with supervision.